i put new headers on my car and in the process i took off the starter. i wasn't going to dissconnect the wires so i didn't think i needed to dissconnect the battery... big mistake.

well i put everything back together and my car wouldn't even turn over. turned the key to the on position and nothing came on...no fan no turnsignals no windows, etc. so i figured it must be the ignition switch that isn't sending out signals.
i replaced that and still couldn't start it so i checked the fuses and fusable links- the only two i could find that could be a problem...all had current. lowered the steering column and learned that i wasn't getting any current TO the ignition switch... is it possible to short out a wire?

i am running out of options ...anyone have any ideas?
-J-

 

how's your battery make sure it is hooked back up, if you were smart and learned from your mistake but seriously, before you get into the electrical stuff, check the "simple" stuff first.

and yes, it is possible to short out a wire...does it look corroded/melted??

 

If all you did was lay the starter aside, you may have broken the purple wire at the starter. It may be attached but it could have broken inside the wire insulation were it is crimped to the eyelet. Put a test light on the "S" terminal stud and have someone turn the ign key, if it lights it's fine and you need to look at fusible links if you had any arcing when you layed the starter down, if it doesn't light, then the continuity in the purple wire is your problem.

 

Did you happen to create a momentary short... When you lowered the starter did you accidentally touch the terminals and create sparks? If so I'd start with the fusible links.

 

This kind of thing happened to me when I changed my starter when I rebuilt my motor. Check and make sure the ground wire is still hooked up and not disconnected or broken. Mine wasnt put back to the ground and the car would do nothing. I hooked the ground back up I think in the back of the motor and it worked fine.

 

I had the same thing happen to me years ago,it turned out to be a fuseable link in the group of wires that with your battery cable
attaches to the starter.

 

If you look in any manual, including the Original GM Service Manual, the absolute first step to most all projects is to remove the battery cable. The only exception is if your wanting to read the codes from the PCM.

 

my battery is fine, and so is the starter... i traced as much of the culprit wire as i could, but i can't get to some of it. if it shorted out, couldn't it take out other wires too?

i would check the purple wire, but i am not getting any power to the ignition switch... which means that one of the red wires with a fuseable link on it probably blew the fuseable link...but both that i can find are fine. isn't there supposed to be 3 links from the starter?

i checked the ground wire and it is fine.

and about dissconnecting the battery... it was stupid that i didn't, but i thought that it wouldn't be a problem if i didn't connect the two studs in any way.

but i found my problem... a wire came un-crimped and i didn't notice it when i moved my starter. it must have grounded out and shorted out the wire, which should have had a fuseable link on it i think.

thanks a lot for all your suggestions !
-J-

 

i forgot to enter this in there too...when i checked on the fuseable link situation on my bad wire with the previous owner, he said that he blew that link a while ago and put just a straight wire there in place of the fuseable link.

i was just lucky enough to have that particular wire out of three come undone and ground out... lol

oh well at least i know what is wrong now.
-J-

 

make sure everything is connected right!

 

Get it running yet?

 

not yet, but i have narrowed it down to either the starter being bad or a ground wire dissconnected somewhere. where does the engine get grounded to the frame at on these camaros?

the starter can be warrentied, and that might be the next step to try.

there is one more possibility that the engine locked up somehow...i'm pretty sure it isn't, but i will give the harmonic balancer a spin to see...
-J-

 

it's running!

my dumbass connected the smaller wire to the wrong terminal on the starter the second time, after i replaced my burnt out wire.

so go ahead and let me have it...